Writing challenge #5

Okay.  So, I haven't posted a story chapter since December of last year, which means I'm an annoying author who can't get anything out to save America from blowing up.  Even worse, I can't even say that life has been super busy.  I've only been deciding on which classes (including the AP ones) I'll be taking next year, preparing a three-course dinner for 20-someodd people, and practicing the violin several hours a day.  Plus, I haven't slept well for at least a month now due to abnormally intense dreams.

Nothing too insane.

…
*slowly keels over and drops unconscious*
…

--several minutes later, Jace wanders by the computer, stops to glance at Clove's crumpled body, then skims the blog post with raised eyebrows--

...hah...hah...
Jace here.

Yeah, whatever, don't take Clove's rants too seriously.  She's always complaining, even though she knows that she'll get over herself eventually...

...though, I have to admit...  *nudges Clove's limp hand with his foot*  ...this is pretty extreme, even for Clove, who tends to be pretty durable.

Eh, she probably had it coming.  Last night, she, literally, couldn't hold a pen steady due to exhaustion, but she was still up until past midnight, writing memoirs.  Stupid girl.

But whatever.  She'll wreck her life if she wants; it doesn't bother me.

Anyway, let me find that list...ah, here we go.  Let's see; Clove wanted "wordless creepy song suggestions" and a list of "creepy elements" for some "creepy writing" that she's doing.  And, no, no, she didn't want inspiration for me.  I'm not that creepy; I'm just Dark.

Really.

~ ~ ~

Quiet Slumber by Shadow6Nothing9

Voodoo Intro by VIXX

This Place Was a Shelter by Olafur Arnolds

~ ~ ~

The above three songs were some nominations, except that they, apparently, didn't "build enough".  Sorrow, creepiness, drama, and wordlessness were her requirements, and, if you can't find a song with those mandatory elements, she wanted you to include in the comment box some creepy elements...?  Ah, she said here in quotation marks, "Creepy elements = a list of things that creep them out".  (Also, she wanted to mention that creepiness is different from scariness.)
...and that's it.

...tch...does she really demand all of this stuff from you guys?  I don't see why she sweats so much over keeping this blog up and running when she's just trying to get stuff for her own writing instead of helping others.  Tch, whatever.

Let's see...Clove normally says, "Write on!" to close.
Hah.
Typical her.

Well, write on, I guess, as long as it's good writing, and you're not pouring hydrochloric acid over your characters to get them to behave.  *pointed glare*
Jace Dracon

Baby Authors

A long, long time ago in a book far, far, FAAAR away, we authors displayed our ignorance with our first novels.  I really dunno, guys; some people look back at their beginning books with admiration, and others just laugh at their rough, ancient words.  But, personally, I shudder when looking at my old writings.  Really, it has only been about three and a half years since I began my life as a fiction author, but…heesh…my first book can be described with no other word than "ugh".

Here are four reasons why I dislike my past works:

1.) I didn't have a proper representation of life.
In 2010, when I first started writing, I was only eleven years old, and I didn't know the least thing about emotional trauma, solitude, or…psh, think of something and I didn't know it.  Originally, I wanted to write medieval fantasy - castles, knights and princesses, and sailing in pirate ships - but history lessons had unfortunately eliminated any description paragraphs on the aforementioned topics, so my castles were basically large houses with running water and torches, my knights and princesses acted like gossipy pre-teen girls, and the pirate ships were Harry-Potter-magically-charmed to have as much cabin space as the Titanic.

"UGH."

Plus, let's not even get started on dialogue.  Speech was choppy, my characters were dull and blurred, and EBWEEWUN SPOKE LIKE AN ELEBEN YEER OLD GURL.

2.) I didn't ever vary my sentences.
I did.  He did.  She did.
I am.  He was.  She was.
Subject Verb Direct Object.  Subject Verb Predicate Nominative.  Subject Verb Predicate Adjective.
Tacking on then, finally, or suddenly before the sentence was probably as diverse as I got, which means that reading my old work is like reading a literature book for kindergardeners (cat likes dog, dog chases cat, cat on bat, hop on pop, doc tore Seuss), just it was worse.
Why?
Everything had been dripped from the lacking gray matter OB UHN ELEBEN YEER OLD GURL.

3.) Talk about poor word choices and focuses.
Instead of simply painting a picture with the words, "Her broken bone had cut through her skin, and blood was dripping down the cut, sending electric stabs from her waist down to her toes", I made some sort of contest to hastily toss as many weak synonym-adjectives (blazing, burning, searing, roaring, broiling) before the word "pain" as I could before the sentence got too awkward.
Also, when I could've just written one sentence that said, "She screamed," I decided to string together about six different sentences that said, "She screamed.  She writhed in blazing, burning, searing, roaring, broiling pain.  The blazing, burning, searing, roaring, broiling pain was intense.  She wanted to die.  Everything hurt."

Hmhm, what's that I hear?

Sounds like an ELEBEN YEER OLD GURL TINKING DAT SHE BE WITEN LIKE A PWO.

4.) My old stories remind me of my lack of plot.
For some reason, a blank document never scared me; I'd get straight to writing as soon as I had a semi-decent idea…and…thus the problem.  I was too impatient to hold onto an idea so that I could put many individual, developed ideas, as a group, into one massive story with character development, climax, and delicious days and days of editing.

…impatient eleben yeer old gurl.  -_-

In Korea, four is the number than represents death.  The number of my post's points has been no coincidence, ladies and gentlemen.  If you are just beginning to write, TAKE HEED.  DO NOT WRITE LIKE AN ELEBEN YEER OLD GURL.

Write on!
Clove
P.S. A writing challenge is coming up - I'm looking for creepy songs and ideas, yo, so keep your ears peeled for good songs and some fresh, creepy phrases.

The Lonely Authors

They say that the life of an author is lonely, but, to an extent, I disagree.  I have lots of friends who know all of my writing-problems, and, when we're gathered, we spend much of our time groaning over commas and rewrites and word choices.

At the same time, sometimes, I feel like every true creative genius is suffused with occasional pangs of solitude.  No matter what we do, we can never honestly calm our nerves before the velvet curtains are pulled back, we can never truly ignore the slashes of the red pen, and we can never really get over a toxic critique.  Our solitude exists merely because we're exposed more frequently to the crowd's booing.

We are our work, and we sometimes we feel varying degrees of sorrow or fear when uncovering ourselves.

The funny thing is...individually, we're ruthless with our own work.  We'll tear out chapters; we'll rip up drafts; we'll keep marking until the first copy looks like an entirely different book when compared to the final copy.  Even then, even after published, we look back at the printed novel, read it, and find things we'd like to change.
We always improve.

Now here's the catch of my muse:
Some people are more prone to critiquing others as they critique themselves while some people are too sensitive towards others' feelings and shower praises without any pruning tips.  Sure, if you happen to have an editor who can tightrope walk between both worlds, you've got a very nice thing on your hands, but if you can change yourself to accept both worlds...you have become the miracle.

Write on!
Clove

The Return of the Return!

QUIZ TIME~!

When do you hit the return button?












…for dramatic suspense?  *eyebrow wiggle*  For practical purposes?  When you get inspired by the Muse of the return-button?

Here are six reasons for "returning":

1.) CHANGING TOPICS
Right now, I'm talking about returns and when to use them under the bullet point of changing topics.  Hopefully, I'll cover all of the bases and speak in a clear manner so that all of my dear readers can understand.  In this paragraph on returns, I'll try to use varied sentence structure and a myriad of living words, and, when I'm done saying what needs to be said, I'll wrap up with a small conclusions that references the fact that I've been talking about returns when changing topics.
*return*  Now, let's talk about commas.



…
…get it?
…



Of course, subject changes are easier to spot when you're writing papers that include specific topics.  Stories are a little different, and you, as the author, get to decide when and where you'd like to break things up.  I'll just say really quickly, however…no one likes to look at massive blocks of document text, in which description and action are all blending into one congealed mass of wooords.  Give your readers some structure.

2.) THE JUMP-SCARE
I've read and have written certain books with a distinct, cocky voice that permits copious pinky attacks at the return key, mostly for the sake of keeping flow, but also for the sake of…



…dramatic suspense!



You get the picture…or…if you don't, check out the spacing in this story or in this story.

3.) TIME LAPSE
e.g. "Eyes swollen from crying, she fell asleep, still in her day clothes."  *return, return, return*  "When she awoke, Clove was struck with a strange sense of penetrating loneliness, and she curled deeper into her covers, numb and mute as a tear slithered down her cheek."
e.g. "Still struggling fiercely, she felt a jarring blow to her head, and the world was instantly swamped in darkness."  *return, return, return*  "Feeling as if her veins had been filled with latex, Clove regained consciousness on the bottom of a prison floor."

(Generally, I only use paragraph returns for time lapses when I have to.  Most of the time, I'll do time lapses with chapter breaks for the anticipation-factor…gotta keep 'em flipping pages, you know?  However, occasionally, I'll write about five-hundred words, and then the protagonist will fall asleep/get knocked unconscious.  Well, at that point, I can't make a new chapter after only five hundred words…thus…enter the time lapse paragraph returns.)

4.) PASSING THE MIC OVER
"If one character is talking--"
"And," Jace interrupted, waving his fingers dismissively in the air, "another character begins to speak, a paragraph break is required.  Yeah.  We know."
"The only exception to this rule is when two characters are forcibly tied together in a sentence," Clove continued cheerfully as Jace muttered under her breath, "Bla, bla, bla.  My foot, girl, does anyone really care?"
A sudden grimacing smile twisted on Clove's face as she rubbed her palms together.  "They would if they had the slightest awareness of concentration English camps and Grammar Nazis.  I'm just trying to save lives, Jace."

5.) POETRY
There was a little girl,
who had a little curl,
right in the middle of her forehead.
When she was good,
she was very good indeed,
but, when she was bad, she was horrid.
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Paragraph returns are mandatory after a line of poetry is over.  If you want more information on punctuation in poetry, please consult your nearest Wikipedia.  ;)

6.) PAPER "STRATEGIZING"
Yeah, I know we've all done it.  The teacher says, "Write a three-page paper," and you come up with two pages but can't, for the life (or sacrifice of laziness) of you, come up with another page.  The solution is simple: double-space, add returns, and make your font a little bigger.
Voila.  x)

Write on!
Clove
P.S. You know that moment when you're going to blog about something, and you've even made a draft for the post, but another fellow blogger beats you to it?  Yep.  Go look at this and learn from it because I totally would've posted that list on my blog if I hadn't been beaten to it.  x)

Synonyms and Their Distinctions - Part II

You might, after my last post, be wondering why I'm picking at such the smallest of elements in writing.  Those unnoticed, yet still strangely-clichéd phrases are natural and infrequently thought of to most beginning authors.

...but, here, at The Wings of My Words, we aren't amateurs, are we?!  *evil laugh and lightning in the sky*

...
...ahem...
...

The reason why I'm drawing these vague phrases to your attention is because I've gotten a little bit beleaguered (are you keen on my flatulent vocabulary?) of some common phrases when reading other authors' writings.  Sure, for non-authors, these phrases are capable and full of feeling, but, for anyone who handles stories on a daily basis, these words are drop-dead em-p-tee.  I'm talking about phrases like:

• The shadows of his clenched jaw were deep.
• She screamed at the horrible pain.
• The warm breath of summer's wind touched her face.
• He wished he could die.
• She had beautiful blond hair and gorgeous blue eyes.

(Yeah, yeah, say it now: picky, picky you, Clove.  Okay, now that that's out of the way...  ;))
While, again, these phrases aren't necessarily bad (I mean, even I use them occasionally), they end up a little dry.  I've only been in the writing business for, say, about three or four years now, but I've come across the above five phrases countless times in multiple authors' writings.
So.
In order to switch these up, I suggest moving pieces around and consulting the ever-helpful Thesaurus.  For example, let's go back to my earlier example of crippling sorrow, immobilizing fear, and paralyzing anger.  These phrases seem subtly overused to me, so, to create a fresher spin, all I'd do is switch up the adjectives and nouns (via Thesaurus).

• He dropped to his knees under the load of incapacitating sorrow (versus crippling sorrow).
• She clasped her hands tightly over her mouth in deactivating fear (versus immobilizing fear).
• Rooted to the ground in anger (versus paralyzed in anger), his balled hands dropped from his waist to his side.

I admit; these changes are as small as subatomic shrimp, however, if you were to create an entire story with these varied phrases, I promise you that your writing will be much more alive.  Try it, and you'll see what I mean.  After all, the idea of looking after the pennies and the pounds looking after themselves is true to writing as well.  Watch for those small phrases, make them as colorful as possible, and your entire novel will improve.

Write on!
Clove
P.S. Some of my favorite re-wordings for the five examples above:

• The shading of his rigid jaw was dramatic and dark.
• She screamed at the blinding excruciation.
• The summer zephyr caressed her face.
• He wanted to lapse into numb emptiness, never to feel or think again.
• She wore a crown of golden hair that fell around her shoulders like a lustrous shawl, and her blue eyes were as crystalized and clear as a Caribbean sea.

Synonyms and Their Distinctions - Part I

I'm taking Latin II this year, and, as if dead language studies weren't hard enough, I don't technically have a teacher.

Yay.

As I've slogged along through declensions and conjugations galore, one of the high-points in such a study has been the vocabulary.  So far, I've learned that there are about sixteen ways to say "to kill" and another eight names for the word "king".  Also, I've been brained with words like, "sword", "shield", "blood", "pain", "gladiators", "soldiers", "camps", "right wings", and "slaves".  (Interestingly enough, a Korean textbook that I flipped through has words like: study, books, paper, students, teachers, classroom, piano, Calculus, doctor, Tiger Balm, and martial arts.  Ho-hum.)

Why am I saying all of this?  Well, nations tend to have abundant synonyms for culturally important words.  To the Romans, the words "death" and "king" were very important, thus there are twenty-seven thousand ways of saying each.  Koreans apparently think that classes are important, and, thus, the vocabulary list in Chapter 1 of a college-level Korean textbook includes all sorts of words that circulate around school.
Recently, media in the United States has seriously taken to dystopian tales, doom, and destruction.  As a result, the words fear, anger, and sorrow have been fine-tuned and slightly, dare I say it, stereotyped.  For example, take the words: crippling, immobilizing, and paralyzing.  You, if you're an attentive author/reader, might notice a repetition of the phrase crippling sorrow, but not so much crippling anger or crippling fear.  On another hand, you also might hear the phrase immobilizing fear, whereas, you might not often hear the phrases immobilizing sorrow or immobilizing anger quite so frequently.  Paralyzing anger, on the other hand, is used by authors as much as paralyzing fear is, while paralyzing sorrow is hardly ever heard of.
So what is it with these distinctions?  Crippling, immobilizing, and paralyzing are all synonyms, yet authors have chosen them differently to modify the words fear, anger, and sorrow.

Some of these differences have bothered me for a while, so I thought it would be fun to compile a list of words like crippling, immobilizing, and paralyzing, then ask you, dear author, to make the distinctions.

~ ~ ~

e.g. Sweating - Fear
Burning - Anger
Roaring - Sorrow

Now you fill in the rest!

1.) Shaking -
Trembling -
Quivering -

2.) Dark -
Grim -
Gloomy -

3.) Red -
Black -
Blue -

4.) Mirthless -
Hurting -
Joyless -

5.) Buried -
Still -
Mindless -

~ ~ ~

Don't forget to leave your answers in the comments section below!

Write on!
Clove
P.S. Are you wondering why I've pointed out this ridiculously-tiny element in writing?  Part II, and the practical side of this discussion, will be here soon!
P.P.S. My answers were: 1.) Sorrow, fear, anger / 2.) Anger, fear, sorrow / 3.) Anger, fear, sorrow / 4.) Sorrow, anger, fear / 5.) Fear, sorrow, anger.  These aren't necessarily the "right" answers; I've just noticed that such phrases tend to stick more than others.

Interview with Christina M.

Weeelcome back, everyone, for another interview!

If you want eight words to describe Christina, try sci-fi, magic, adventure, romance, and insanely-immersing dialogue-writing author.
That's her.
She manages a myriad of genres with the balance of a Cirque De Soleil funambulist, she writes with the mind of a fox, an owl, and a kitten all combined together, plus, she's not afraid to let people take her writing and smash it up with red pens.  Christina and I first began talking about stories in Sunday evening nursery, believe it or not, when I was writing my story on the back of a bulletin while rocking a baby, and, ever since then, she's been a faithful editor and wonderful writing friend who totally gets all the small nuances and complaints of an author's life.  Even outside of writing, Christiana is just a joy to be around, and she really "oozes Jesus", if you will.
Other than that, well, I'll let Christina talk for herself.  :)

What books have you written/are writing?
Get ready.  The list is long.

• The Resented - Christian thriller/ horror.  (The most horrible thing you will ever read.  Never read this, or you will regret it and laugh at me and think I need the gospel.)

• The Blood Books - High fantasy.  (Restoring fallen kingdoms.)

• Defiance - Action adventure, young adult. (Slaves fighting for their freedom.)

• Rage - Urban fantasy. (Modern day wizards.)

• The Job - Supernatural crime series.  (Ghosts.)

• Wayward - Supernatural thriller, romance.  (Vampires.)

• Showpiece - Sci-fi, action adventure, romance.  (Spaceships.)

• The Exodus - Scifi, horror. (Spaceships and aliens.)

• Ten Year Jump - Sci-fi, romance. (Time travel.)

• Breath - Sci-fi. (Androids meets humanity.)

• Space Sirens - Sci-fi, fantasy. (Space ships meet wizards.)

And there are probably a few I’m forgetting about.

Where do you find most of your inspiration?
Boredom and dreams.  Resented, The Blood Books, and Defiance were almost entirely written while I should have been listening to my teachers in school.  Though they are all complete, the latest draft of Defiance was at least written outside the classroom.  The Exodus and Showpiece were inspired by dreams, and the rest were probably spawned from prompts that I received online but took on a life of their own.

When did you first start writing?
The lightbulb for writing finally turned on when I was fifteen, but I’ve always loved stories.  I’ve always loved make believe and used to make up stories in my head ever since I can remember.

Do you have a favorite/least favorite word?
Favorite - love.
Least favorite - lust.
People often confuse these in writing (as well as life), and I really like to use my stories to draw the clear lines of what each look like.  One is hard to do and often doesn’t look like what you would expect it to look like.  It comes in many forms that are just amazing to explore.  The other is often mistaken for something it isn’t, always has consequences, though sometimes delayed, and in the end destroys who we were really meant to be.  I love using my characters to illustrate the difference between the two, and I don’t always use romance to do this.  Sometimes, it’s in the family and friendships that we learn what true love really is!

Do you have a favorite character (from your stories)?
DAMIEN.  (No last name.)  Damien is from The Blood Books.  He was the first love interest I ever wrote, and his character has kept its integrity over the many years that I’ve written him.  He’s not soft spoken, but many think he’s mute because he speaks so little.  (But because he’s one of the main characters, you pretty much get to see him every time he does talk, lol.)  Due to injuries he incurred as a child-slave, he has a severe stuttering problem around most people.  However, he doesn’t consider himself a victim and would most likely slap you silly (unless you were a lady) if you tried to make him into one.  He’s one of my favorites to write, especially in his childhood.

Do you have a favorite character (from any novel)?
Not just a favorite character but a few and most of the time, they’re not the main character.  They’re a side character who seems so unimportant but end up shaping and changing the MC’s character in the best possible ways.  They have morals.  They work hard.  They might not always seem perfect at first, but the more you get to know them, the more you respect them and realize how important they really are.  They’re the Molly Weasleys, Sirius Blacks, Kenspeckle Grouts, Ghastly Bespokes, the Samwise Gamgees, Merrys, and Pippins!  The list goes on and on, and, if I had time, I’d go through each book I’ve ever read and tell you them all.  (These are just from Harry Potter, Skullduggery Pleasant, and LOTR.)

When you get writer's block, what do you do?
Listen to music OR read a devotional.  I get so many character ideas by realizing my own flaws in my own character.  I often like to put Christian principles into my story, so this actually really helps me direct my characters into their proper positions in the stories I write.

Have you ever considered naming one of your future children after a story character?  If so, which character from which novel?
HAHAH, NOPE.  I mean, I love all the names I’ve chosen for my characters but I know my husband would hate all those names, which is why I use them for fiction.  XD  I’m sure there are a few exceptions, like Emily, Ashley, and Peter...but I’ve got a fair many “strange” names as my husband calls them.  Names like Colt, Riley, Jettem, Sal, Hayden, Peyton, Landon, Damien, Wesley...etc.

Write on!
Clove